Ofsted publish annual report for 2024-25

Ofsted has published its report and accounts for the 2024-25 academic year, a time during which Ofsted underwent massive changes, as school effectiveness grades were scrapped and new inspections are set to launch in November.

The report logs performance, achievements, challenges, and progress towards Ofsted’s targets, as well as financial data. This academic year has been a significant one for Ofsted, from running the Big Listen from January to May 2024, making inspection changes in May 2024, scrapping the effectiveness grade from inspections in September 2024, launching the Ofsted Academy, hosting several consultations, and then gearing up to stagger new inspection rollouts in November 2025.

In this academic year, Ofsted inspected 16,700 state primary schools, 3,420 state secondary schools. 1,170 non-association independent schools, and 160 general FE colleges, among many other institutions.

The report details that Ofsted carried out 6,471 of the 7,001 inspections planned (92 per cent), with 1,660 of these being graded. Ofsted attributes this shortfall to pausing inspections in January 2024 to train inspectors in mental health awareness, as well as the inquest into the death of headteacher Ruth Perry.

113 inspectors left Ofsted in 2024-25, making staff turnover at 10,9 per cent, higher than the civil service target.

This year, Ofsted’s Employee Engagement Index was at 64 per cent, which is a decline from 2023-24, at 68 per cent.